| | November 20186CIOReviewThe approach of arriving at decisions based on instincts and observations while forecasting customer demands has become antiquated. Today, most of the organizations are considering important factors such as pricing and market trends to make accurate forecasts about customer demands. Predicting the future is easier said than done as companies face difficulties while making informed decisions without fully understanding the future of their businesses. Whether they should focus on supply chain planning, espouse the latest technological trends or ponder over the cost reduction of their products to better fulfil the customers' needs can be effectively answered through demand forecasting techniques. A precise sales forecast provides critical information that guides industry leaders in addressing the needs of customers. However, there lie several challenges ahead of them in terms of devising accurate forecasts. One among these obstacles is lack of collaboration among finance, sales, and product operations teams, while another correlates to inaccurate or manipulated data sets such as spreadsheets, which often tend to restrain collaboration. However, with the advent of cloud-based storage, demand signal repository (DSR), internet of things (IoT), and demand signal analytics (DSA), it is now possible to predict the future. Cloud-based storage and DSRs are extensively solving the challenges for business systems integration and master data consolidation. Unless the data can be stored and analyzed at a global level, it is not possible to generate accurate global forecasts in any aspect of a business. Cloud-based storage has become the backbone for global enterprises in today's big data-driven world, given the amount of data collected and generated through modern forecasting systems. The next big innovation in demand forecasting is DSA, which allows the integration of point of sales (POS) systems and external attributes such as economic conditions to predict the business demands. Utilizing such forecasting technologies, businesses have already become or are on the verge of becoming demand-driven organizations. Going ahead, we can hope for improved accuracy in demand forecasting by truly employing demand sensing and demand shaping technologies. This edition of CIOReview lists best-in-class demand forecasting solution providers that can help you choose the strategic partner for your company and reap the benefits of forecasting solutions offered by them.Let us know your thoughts!Jeevan George Managing Editoreditor@cioreview.comToward Demand-driven Business Strategies Copyright © 2018 ValleyMedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher thereof.CIOReviewEditorial StaffSalesAaron PierceCarolynn WaltersDebarpita GhoshShirley FaithJustin SmithShikha PatraNick Masonnick.mason@cioreview.com510.330.5176VisualizersIssac GeorgeK.L.Kasi VishwanathManaging EditorJeevan GeorgeNOVEMBER - 22- 2018DEMAND FORECASTING SPECIAL*Some of the Insights are based on the interviews with respective CIOs and CXOs to our editorial staffContact Us:Phone:510.402.1463Fax:510-894-8405Email:sales@cioreview.comeditor@cioreview.com marketing@cioreview.comNOVEMBER - 22 - 2018, Vol 07 SE 95 Published by ValleyMedia, Inc.To subscribe to CIOReviewVisit www.cioreview.com CIOReviewEditorial
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